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Owls
Gail Gibbons explores the mysterious world and workings of owls in her latest nonfiction picture book. She depicts numerous species of owls and discusses their biological similarities as well as their differences. She portrays their ideal habitats, life styles, birth and development and environmental hazards that are threatening certain species. As usual, her comprehensive text is accompanied by clearly labeled illustrations and diagrams. Definitions are also included for additional clarity.
32 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2005
1 person is currently reading
196 people want to read
About the author
Gail Gibbons
223 books161 followersFrom gailgibbons.com: I was born in Oak Park, Illinois, in 1944. Even as a little child, I was always busy putting books together. Sometimes I would bind them with yarn to hold the pages together. I've always loved drawing and painting. I was also a very curious child. My parents tell me that I was always asking lots and lots of questions.
Later, I went on to the University of Illinois, where I studied graphic design. Then I moved to New York City, where I got a job doing artwork for television shows. Eventually I was asked to do the artwork for a children's show. While doing that show, some of the children asked me if I had ever thought of doing children's books. My mind immediately recalled how much I enjoyed doing that type of thing when I was a child. So I put an idea for a book together and right away a publisher bought it. That book was called Willy and His Wheel Wagon. Since then, over 170 books that I have written and illustrated have been published. The type of books I write are non-fiction books. This is because I love researching so much. I get to ask lots of questions, just like when I was a kid. I also get to travel and meet lots of interesting people. While doing research for my book Nature's Green Umbrella: Tropical Rain Forests, I traveled to two islands where there are tropical rain forests, Saba and Dominica. I also had a great time writing and illustrating the book. I get a lot of pleasure from doing the type of work I do.
Later, I went on to the University of Illinois, where I studied graphic design. Then I moved to New York City, where I got a job doing artwork for television shows. Eventually I was asked to do the artwork for a children's show. While doing that show, some of the children asked me if I had ever thought of doing children's books. My mind immediately recalled how much I enjoyed doing that type of thing when I was a child. So I put an idea for a book together and right away a publisher bought it. That book was called Willy and His Wheel Wagon. Since then, over 170 books that I have written and illustrated have been published. The type of books I write are non-fiction books. This is because I love researching so much. I get to ask lots of questions, just like when I was a kid. I also get to travel and meet lots of interesting people. While doing research for my book Nature's Green Umbrella: Tropical Rain Forests, I traveled to two islands where there are tropical rain forests, Saba and Dominica. I also had a great time writing and illustrating the book. I get a lot of pleasure from doing the type of work I do.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews
April 9, 2022
New and Updated version coming in July 2022...
Have you ever wanted to learn more about owls, but you are not sure where to start? This is it! Grab this book and learn all about Owls! There are many different types of owls, and Ms. Gibbons breaks down some of the changes, what makes them unique, how they eat, and so much more!!
For young readers (or more mature readers looking for a great introductory on Owls), this book is fabulous! You can read through without feeling overwhelmed!
Have you ever wanted to learn more about owls, but you are not sure where to start? This is it! Grab this book and learn all about Owls! There are many different types of owls, and Ms. Gibbons breaks down some of the changes, what makes them unique, how they eat, and so much more!!
For young readers (or more mature readers looking for a great introductory on Owls), this book is fabulous! You can read through without feeling overwhelmed!
July 21, 2021
What a charming little book. Chock full of educational material. I'm 62 and still learned some things, like the two broad categories of owls!
November 30, 2014
Owls by Gail Gibbons was an informational picture book all about owls. This story was great because it explained all of the different aspects of owls life cycles, diets, and habits. It also talks about all of the different types of owls (which there are many!). I really enjoyed all of the "fun facts" that were on the pages. It made the read so much more interesting and informative all at the same time. I am not interested in owls per say but I really did learn a lot from this book in a fun way.
I liked that there were facts about nearly everything that has to do with owls. I liked the parts about their diet and their hunting habits. I also like the parts about their life cycle and how they are nocturnal. This story was filled to the brim with information about owls but I never felt overwhelmed.
The illustrations in this picture book worked extremely well with the text. I liked that each picture was dark because that is an owls natural habitat. I think the dark pictures worked well with the plot and the information that was being taught. I think that students often find animals to be interesting and this story definitely makes it even more fun to read. I recommend reading this book!
I liked that there were facts about nearly everything that has to do with owls. I liked the parts about their diet and their hunting habits. I also like the parts about their life cycle and how they are nocturnal. This story was filled to the brim with information about owls but I never felt overwhelmed.
The illustrations in this picture book worked extremely well with the text. I liked that each picture was dark because that is an owls natural habitat. I think the dark pictures worked well with the plot and the information that was being taught. I think that students often find animals to be interesting and this story definitely makes it even more fun to read. I recommend reading this book!
November 28, 2017
Owls by Gail Gibbons gives the reader excellent quality information about owls regarding: the different species of owls, what owls eat, where the different types of owls live, the body structure of owls, and the threats to the owls' existence. The front cover of the book does a great job at helping the reader visualize what an owl looks like. The back cover of the book shows 3 different types of owls and this gives the reader the idea that there isn't just 1 type of owl. The back cover's picture of the owls are very detailed in the illustrations. The pictures in each page of the book enhances the text greatly. The important parts of each page are shown in the pictures and each picture has the sentence from the page that it corresponds to. If a student doesn't understand what a certain vocabulary term in the text means, the picture that it corresponds to helps the reader figure out what the word means. There are even diagrams in the book that lay out the owl's anatomy and have the parts of the anatomy labeled. There are also definitions in the book that help the reader learn new vocabulary regarding owls. If the reader wants to still know more about owls there is a page at the end of the book that lists more facts about owls. This book would be great for 1st or 2nd grade due to the large font of the text and the largeness of the illustrations. This could also be used with older students if a student wants to do a research project on owls.
December 28, 2022
This one is a 3.5 for me. There's simply something intriguing about owls that makes books about them a sure bet for many young readers. Whether it's their distinctive hoots, their glowing eyes, their immense wingspan or their speed, this species seems rather mysterious and foreign. In this updated version of her earlier book from 2005 exploring owls, author/illustrator Gail Gibbons provides a fact-filled introduction to these birds. Supported with watercolor illustrations filled with muted tones and mostly dark scenes, her text discusses different kinds of owls, including the two families into which they can be divided according to their facial disks, their unique eyes, ears, bones, and talons as well as how these all combine to make owls exceptional predators. Readers also learn about courtship rituals, nesting sites, how they care for their young, and why some owl species are now endangered. Reading this infinitely readable book may encourage youngsters to want to learn more about this fascinating species, how and when it's possible to spot or hear them and even how to insure that owls will continue to populate the earth. Back matter includes interesting tidbits about owls. As always, elementary and intermediate teachers can't go wrong by adding any book, including this one, by Gail Gibbons to their classroom science collection.
March 27, 2018
Owls by Gail Gibbons is a non-fiction picture book all about owls and how they use their traits to survive.
The first element that stood out to me about this book was the illustrations. The neutral colors make it seem very realistic and the illustrations have a lot of movement to them. The impact this book has is that it is fun to read, but also informative. Literary elements like the use of simple, short sentences and providing meaning and context to certain unfamiliar words help make the book easy to read and understand. The inclusion captions on the images to supplement the regular text adds a lot to the book Diagrams identifying the different body parts of an owl. Design elements like smaller illustrations highlighting certain details, for example, the eyes of the owl, as well as juxtaposing images of owls in the day and night help further develop the reader’s knowledge of owls. Overall, I think this is a great read for students who want to learn more about owls or animals in general. I learned a lot reading it as an adult and I think it would be very valuable for children to read.
The first element that stood out to me about this book was the illustrations. The neutral colors make it seem very realistic and the illustrations have a lot of movement to them. The impact this book has is that it is fun to read, but also informative. Literary elements like the use of simple, short sentences and providing meaning and context to certain unfamiliar words help make the book easy to read and understand. The inclusion captions on the images to supplement the regular text adds a lot to the book Diagrams identifying the different body parts of an owl. Design elements like smaller illustrations highlighting certain details, for example, the eyes of the owl, as well as juxtaposing images of owls in the day and night help further develop the reader’s knowledge of owls. Overall, I think this is a great read for students who want to learn more about owls or animals in general. I learned a lot reading it as an adult and I think it would be very valuable for children to read.
May 1, 2018
Awards received?
Reviewer’s Choice List, 2015
Appropriate Grade level?
K-3
Original Summary:
With realistic imagines and a tremendous amount of facts, Gibbons allows her readers to capture who and what an owl is. This informational text is a pleasure to read. Gibbons teachers her readers the basics of the owl, diet, characteristics, life cycle, and even the hazards and dangers owls are in.
Original Review:
If I was working on a report about owls, this book would be my first selection. Gibbons provides fascinating information ranging from owl diets, all the way to the decrease in owl habitats. I am a big fan of the large, colorful images presented within the book. I was drawn to the details/facts that are besides each image.
1-2 possible in-class uses:
The class could make a life-size owl picture. My job as the teacher would be to do all of the preparations like, drawing the owl, and preparing all of the individual feathers that students will write on and then place on the owl image I have drawn. On the feathers, the students would write about one fact they learned while listening/reading this book as a whole.
Reviewer’s Choice List, 2015
Appropriate Grade level?
K-3
Original Summary:
With realistic imagines and a tremendous amount of facts, Gibbons allows her readers to capture who and what an owl is. This informational text is a pleasure to read. Gibbons teachers her readers the basics of the owl, diet, characteristics, life cycle, and even the hazards and dangers owls are in.
Original Review:
If I was working on a report about owls, this book would be my first selection. Gibbons provides fascinating information ranging from owl diets, all the way to the decrease in owl habitats. I am a big fan of the large, colorful images presented within the book. I was drawn to the details/facts that are besides each image.
1-2 possible in-class uses:
The class could make a life-size owl picture. My job as the teacher would be to do all of the preparations like, drawing the owl, and preparing all of the individual feathers that students will write on and then place on the owl image I have drawn. On the feathers, the students would write about one fact they learned while listening/reading this book as a whole.
December 4, 2018
Summary:
This book is about owls. This book explains that owls are raptors and raptors are birds of prey which means they are hunters. This book goes into detail about different kinds of owls and it has pictures of the different types. This book even points out details on certain owls. Like their beak, eyes, throat, etc.
like or not:
I liked this book! I thought it was very informational. The pictures in the book were very detailed which I enjoyed while I was reading it. I also really liked how they pointed out details on the owl so you knew where everything was at and what they were talking about. I loved how at the end of the book it talked about how today there are certain places that have bee set aside as reserves to protect owls!
Classroom:
I think this would be a very fun book to have in the classroom. You could read this book if you were studying different types of birds. I think this would be fun to make the students read this book then print out an image of an owl and let them label the bird and name a few favorite facts from the book that they learned.
This book is about owls. This book explains that owls are raptors and raptors are birds of prey which means they are hunters. This book goes into detail about different kinds of owls and it has pictures of the different types. This book even points out details on certain owls. Like their beak, eyes, throat, etc.
like or not:
I liked this book! I thought it was very informational. The pictures in the book were very detailed which I enjoyed while I was reading it. I also really liked how they pointed out details on the owl so you knew where everything was at and what they were talking about. I loved how at the end of the book it talked about how today there are certain places that have bee set aside as reserves to protect owls!
Classroom:
I think this would be a very fun book to have in the classroom. You could read this book if you were studying different types of birds. I think this would be fun to make the students read this book then print out an image of an owl and let them label the bird and name a few favorite facts from the book that they learned.
September 27, 2017
I read Owls in my fourth grade classroom when introducing them to an activity we were going to do for science. We were dissecting owl pellets, and this book was great because it was both a non-fiction story and informative. The story started talking about all of the different kinds of owls, Barn, Eastern-Screech, Burrowing, Barred, Great Horned, and a Snow Owl. After listing all of the owls and giving information about each, the book went on to talk about where owls live, what they eat, and how they spend their days and nights. The book mostly focused on Barn Owls, the type of owl, whose pellets we were dissecting in class. Owls gave students knowledge on the owl, and they knew before dissecting the pellet what they were going to find inside of it. I recommend this book to anybody who is teaching about owls or teaching about the predator/prey concept.
December 7, 2017
Gail Gibbons dives into the mysterious world of owls. She writes about the different kinds of owls, what they eat, and where they live. She provides detailed pictures and diagrams to help readers understand the wonderful world of owls.
Owls is a book that will be loved by both children and adults that are interested in learning about owls. The illustrations are clear and detailed and help the reader to understand more about owls, their environment, their habits, and where they live. She also gives kid friendly definitions to aid in comprehension.
Other books to read that connect with Owls:
Owl Babies by Martin Waddell
Exploring the World of Owls by Tracy Read
"On silent wings a bird swoops down in the moonlight."
If a student has to write a report on an animal this book could be used as a format for the report instead of the boring reports that many teachers require their students to write. The student could combine writing, labeling, and drawings just like the book Owls.
Owls is a book that will be loved by both children and adults that are interested in learning about owls. The illustrations are clear and detailed and help the reader to understand more about owls, their environment, their habits, and where they live. She also gives kid friendly definitions to aid in comprehension.
Other books to read that connect with Owls:
Owl Babies by Martin Waddell
Exploring the World of Owls by Tracy Read
"On silent wings a bird swoops down in the moonlight."
If a student has to write a report on an animal this book could be used as a format for the report instead of the boring reports that many teachers require their students to write. The student could combine writing, labeling, and drawings just like the book Owls.
April 17, 2018
"Owls" by Gail Gibbons is an informational picture book. It talks about owls and the interesting facts that come along with their mysterious lives. This bool is educational by discussing different types of owls and what they do to eat and survive. The pictures in this book make it fun to read with colorful and big illustrations. The book also includes pictures that are labeled and diagrams to represent what she is talking about. This adds meaning to the words and makes it easier for kids to understand what she is referring to. I would recommend this book because although it is educational, it is very interesting and engaging. The age group for this book would not be appropriate for young children because it may be hard for them to understand what the words and pictures. Overall this book was fun to read and had many fun facts that I never knew about owls!
March 30, 2018
I liked this book because it kept you interested while learning all about owls unlike some informational books that can make it hard to be intrigued. This book was easy to read and relates to what people might assume about owls. My constructive criticism for this book is that it runs on for quite a while and could be shortened to be a picture book. Two literary elements are that the words are very easy but contains words that readers will be able to learn aswell the book is easy to follow as each page is about one certain topic. Two design elements in this book is that each picture is broken up by a white boarder to seperate the actions, the fonts in the book are used to highlight different sounds and actions.
January 7, 2024
Excellent presentation on the bird species of owls which is appropriate for any age who is interested in reading about owls. Written on a beginning level, probably second grade through adult. The picture book format has high gloss illustrations on every page with very minimal text describing owls particularly on the North American continent which are 19 in number. The text describes characteristics of all owls, as there fully rotating heads, their eyes and what keen vision they have, and then briefly tells about their ears with them being located below their eyes but at two different levels. This title is written for children, but any person with interest in owls or beginning bird watching will learn and enjoy from this title. Loved it!
May 28, 2019
This book is very well done. The illustrations are gorgeous and there is so much information about owls from how they hunt their pray to how they build their nests and care for their young. It reads like a non-fiction book but the beautiful illustrations make this a lovely picture book experience for young children. My 4 year old is very into birds right now so I have checked out many titles and this has been one of our favorites for sure.
May 1, 2020
Owls are definitely one of my favorite birds! I think this is a great book for children who want to know more about owls and their distinctive characteristics. I think this book provides a fun text about owls. There are lots of bold pictures to show the amazingness of each owl! I found it interesting seeing the size difference of owls. The elf Owl is the smallest and the largest is the Great Grey Owl.
December 1, 2021
This book was great for learning about owls! It offered a lot of fun facts that kids could use for research or projects they may have coming up. It was easy to read and follow along with. My favorite part was probably when it had the large illustrations on two pages of the different owls that inhabit North America. It was interesting to see all the different types that there are. Very informative picture book with lots of descriptive illustrations!
November 9, 2024
I liked this book because the illustrations were set up similarly to a graphic novel. The pages were sometimes split to have two images to better show the information presented. I think that this book would be a good introduction to a lesson about owls or a read-aloud to get students interested in owls. It would also be good in the classroom library so students could explore about owls on their own time and at their own pace!
February 4, 2018
Simply gorgeous book. Granted this is already a gorgeous animal. It is steraight up a zoo tourguide type of book. All the info you could ever want about owls and done so by a good writer. Now the part that really shines is every description is accompanied by gorgeous paintings of various types of owls that match the descriptions doing everything said. Very peaceful book.
November 11, 2018
32 pages. Great information on owls. I learned a lot. This book features beautiful illustrations and nice layouts throughout. It is full of interesting facts and concepts. Kids will love it. Highly recommended for grades 3-5.
December 11, 2018
Owls is a nonfiction picture book whose title speaks for itself. It describes different types of owls and their eating, sleeping, and nesting habits.
I like this book. It is very informative and the pictures are good. My favorite part are the pronunciation guides for difficult words. The cover is also nice. I think it will invite children to pick it up. I wish it did have more of a narrative element though as I did get a little bored.
I would use this book for a project. Each student would be assigned an animal, and they'd have to find two books to research with. The student that chose to research owls would love this book as it has all the information they need.
I like this book. It is very informative and the pictures are good. My favorite part are the pronunciation guides for difficult words. The cover is also nice. I think it will invite children to pick it up. I wish it did have more of a narrative element though as I did get a little bored.
I would use this book for a project. Each student would be assigned an animal, and they'd have to find two books to research with. The student that chose to research owls would love this book as it has all the information they need.
January 25, 2020
Used as an introduction to informational writing. Paired with Owl Moon for students to decide the elements of nonfiction writing. Great use of text features. Perfect book to teach drawn pictures does not always mean fiction.
October 2, 2022
New 2023 update of her older book with so much information about owls and structures and habits and habitats. Useful non-fiction information on all the owl types and where they live. Great resource for writers and children for reports.
May 4, 2023
Gibbons’ trademark illustrated non fiction picture books offers readers lots of facts and information about owls. Providing interesting narrative text and definitions or facts nestled among the art. Recommended.
October 8, 2023
Pretty nice, bright and expressive illustrations; and I actually learned a few neat facts off it in spite of being well above the intended age range. Did spend more time focusing on barn owls as a sample species than any others, but I guess you have limited space in a children's picture book?
May 4, 2017
Great informational text!!
November 8, 2017
Gail Gibbons non-fiction books are perfect for young readers. This books has large, colorful illustrations as well as cartoon style artwork. Owl fact abound!
October 9, 2020
Not awesome as a read aloud. More suited for independent reading by early and emergent readers.
November 9, 2020
Good pictures and great information
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April 29, 2021Lexile: IG760L
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 7, 2021
Great nonfiction text.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews